LIDAR acronym first appeared in the Middleton and Spilhausa "Weather Instruments" in 1953, long before the invention of lasers. The first lidar was used as light sources, conventional or pulsed lamps with high-speed shutter, formed short pulse.
In 1963, the United States have begun field tests of portable laser rangefinder XM-23 with a radiated power of 2.5 W and a range of measurable distances 200-9995 m. XM-23 was originally unclassified sample and became the basic instrument for civilian investigators 1960. By the end of 1960 laser range finders have become standard equipment for tanks the U.S. (the first model designed from the laser range finders began M551 Sheridan, launched into a series in 1967). Civilian use of laser range finders have been restricted to the high cost of integrated circuits at the time.
Then, in the first half of 1960, began experiments on the use of lidar with a laser emitter for atmospheric studies.
In 1969, a laser rangefinder and a target mounted on the Apollo-11, used to measure the distance from Earth to the Moon. Four of the target, delivered to the moon three Apollo and Lunokhod-2 ", and to this day are used for monitoring the orbit of the moon.
During the 1970's, on the one hand, debug technology of laser range finders and compact semiconductor lasers, on the other - began investigating the scattering of the laser beam in the atmosphere. By early 1980, these studies have become so well known in academic circles that the acronym LIDAR has become a household name - lidar, which recorded the Webster Dictionary, 1985. In those same years, laser range finders have reached the stage of mature technologies (at least in military applications) and has been separated from LIDAR technology industry.